Christmas Lights Advice

Remember those projects with dozens of plastic cups and a strand of mini lights? While I love a good hot glue project as much as the next person, I love these new mini lights spheres that have just been rolled out at Christmas Light Source.

Here’s a photo:

This is a photo of one of the spheres hanging from my back deck – I have to say they look really pretty. I like the fact that all I had to do was install a tea cup hook and run the cord to make them work. That’s about all I can do this time of year – with the Christmas season and all

Here is what the mini light ball looks like moved to the front porch during the daytime so you can see the construction:

Mini Light Sphere During the Day

You can see in the top photo that they globe has that traditional warm yellow-y glow you see in all incandescent mini lights – very nice. I look forward to hanging several of these from my deck this Spring.

For the person who is always looking for the next big thing in Christmas and party lighting, I think these mini light spheres are a nice addition to all of your old favorites.

Best regards,

Shellie Gardner

Mini Light Spheres

Mini lights come in just about every variation under the sun nowadays – different color bulbs and wires, different spacing and light set lengths – you can even find them with novelty covers everything from Winnebagos to sea shells to Disney characters.

One type of light set that I’m experimenting with this season is a set that has 20 percent of it’s bulbs randomly twinkling. These are fairly new and are a nice alternative to flashing sets of lights. The twinkling lights twinkle as a function of temperature so after you turn them on they take a few seconds to warm up them they start to turn on and off.

These lights are especially nice when you are decorating down South where there is rarely snow for the holidays because they remind me of light on snow. Just shimmering flashes of light among the bulbs that stay on all the time.

Here is a video that I just shot of this set to give you a better idea of how the twinkle rate looks.

I think this set of lights would be great for just decorating for a party or an event – not too distracting but a little more interesting.

Be sure to be gentle with your mini lights as you are installing and don’t forget to keep the little bags of bulbs and fuses that come with the lights for that inevitable moment when a bulb pops out or you blow a fuse. Mini lights are wired in series so if one bulbs burn out they all stay lit but if one pops out of it’s socket, it will interrupt the connection and cause your strand to go out.

Work with your strands of mini lights gently – if you are working with a longer set (more than 20 feet long) then consider rolling the set like a ball of yarn then untwist it as you wind it around the tree, column, shrub, railing or whatever you are wrapping with lights.

Have fun and have a Merry Christmas,

Shellie Gardner
Twinkle Lights

Hello All,

I just finished this video about magnetic Christmas lights, loaded it to youtube and thought I’d share.

One item that the video mentions that is really important is that you test the surface you want to use these clips on to make sure that a magnet will stick to it There are so many materials nowadays that look like they would be but aren’t.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holiday Decorating,
Shellie Gardner
Magnetic Light Clips

Easter is just a couple of days away – I love this time of year and do the best I can not to let Spring Fever get to me.

I just realized today that I hadn’t changed out the bulbs in the 25 foot C7 light strands that we keep installed around our front flower beds. (Note, Christmas light cords are rated for 90 day outside seasonal use – so I know that they can be susceptible to UV degradation.)

So changing out the light bulbs was this evening’s project – along with a little bit of Springtime raking to unearth the light strands.

We ran 25 feet of lights on each side of the walkway that goes from the sidewalk to our concrete stairs. By doubling the 25 foot light strands it gives a more concentrated effective 6 inch light spacing which looks more impressive from the street.

I love to change out lights that we use to accent our yard all year long. (Fortunately, we live in a funky craftsman neighborhood where the folks around us look at our Christmas lights as art!)

I’ve installed opaque white, pink and purple c7 bulbs. They are sooo pretty (but apparently hard to photograph – photos coming soon!). During the day, they look like Easter Eggs – and look electric pink, purple (hotter pink) and white at night.

Christmas bulbs and cords are cheap compared to home renovation – and you can change them anytime. If you don’t have little cottage flower beds in your front yard, C7 and C9 bulbs in the colors of the season or for your party are easy to install above a deck or along a fence-line.

So go check up in your attic or out in the shed – you might not have pink or purple on hand but some clear Christmas lights are great for brightening up your Spring just as well!

Happy Easter from the Christmas light lady,

Shellie
Christmas Light Source

C7 bulbs

Now there is another choice in “white” when it comes to LED Christmas lights — Champagne!!

This color is a rich golden white – I love it. I think it is a great answer to a desire to have a mellower LED light on a Christmas tree. I think I’ll be using these lights with my vintage ornaments this year.

Here’s a video that I shot showing off this new color

Shellie Gardner
Champagne LED Christmas Lights

So, you’ve installed all of your mini light sets – let’s say on the front of your house outlining your windows, or you’ve decorated some small trees planted closely together. Everything looks great but egad! you have lights hanging out in the middle of space, marring the perfection of your Christmas light display. Don’t despair! Here are a few tips to avoid this situation.

1. Plan your projects with a wider variety of lengths of lights. By combining short and long sets of mini lights you can more closely tailor your sets to the best length for the run. When you order your lights, make sure that you note whether the light sets have a male/female plug set or just one stackable plug. (Because naturally, if you only have on plug on a set is has to be the last set). Mini lights are commonly wired in series which means that they can’t be cut to fit. C7 and C9 stringer style light sets are wired in parallel and can be cut to fit and properly terminated so they don’t have this issue (get an electrician’s help with this – you know you have a crazy electrician brother-in-law – give him a call.)

2. For just a bulb or two jumping the gap between windows, consider wrapping those bulbs with electrical tape. The success of this plan is going to be dependent on your weather and you own propensity for perfection and tidiness in your Christmas lights display.

3. Paint the extra bulbs. For small indoor projets where you just have a couple of bulbs to hide, paint the bulbs with an acrylic black paint. Messy but effective.

4. Track down a product called Black Out Caps. These handy little plastic caps fit right over the mini lights you want to take out of your picture.

Good luck with all your Holiday and Decorating Projects!

Shellie Gardner
Black Out Caps

I’m frequently asked, “So, what’s the difference between residential and commercial led christmas lights and what should I choose?”

LED Christmas lights from HOliday Creations come in two different version. What style you choose depends on your project, installation requirements, availability and your pocketbook.

Standard LED Christmas lights come with a standard male/female plug set and can be connected up to an average of 60 sets in series. These UL rated sets are great for indoor projects, crafts and HOliday decorating. In the mini light versions of these sets – razzberry and strawberry – the LEDs are spaced 4 inches apart and come in 35 and 70 LEDs to the set. Superrazz or G12 residential sets are 6 inchesa apart and the bigger C7 and C9 Sets are spaced 8 inches apart. This 8 inch spacing is one of the biggest differences between residential and commercial C7 and C9 sets because the commercial versions are 12 inches apart.

You can use traditional splitters and extension cords to install your residential light sets.

Residential sets are frequently the best choice is you want to place lighted objects in multi places in a room and sheer number of sets is not an issue.

For external applications and those where flexibility of installation and weather resistance is a high priority, commercial LED Chrsitmas lights might be a better solution for your project. Designed with proprietary 3-wire engineering, Holiday Creation LED light sets can be run up to 125 sets is a single run. If you are looking at C7 or C9 sets which are manufactured with 12 inch spacing, that is an incredible 3125 of LEDs run off a single plug.
Commercial sets have a custome proprietary modified coax connector on each end. Spacer wires, Y’s, T’s, multiple outlet adapters, and 3 different lengths of spacer wires allow you to design a lighting plan that can light over 3000 feet of roofline, plaza, trees, etc with only one plug.

Since commercial SED light sets require a power adapter (that rectifies the incoming voltage waveform to provide reduced flicker output), they generally aren’t a good choice if you need to plug in a bunch of sets in different places since the adapters would add alot of needless expense to your materials list.

Be sure to order a couple more adapters and a few extra spacer wires when ordering your commercial lights so you don’t get caught without that one 12 foot spacer wire that you needed.

Both styles of LED Christmas lights have impact resistant injection molded LED lenses that are weather resistant – just remember you can’t remove the bulbs to customize the color and when one may eventually burn out, you’ll need to compensate for that one LED visually but doubling back during installation.

Considering the pros and cons of the two styles of LED Christmas lights only your ultimate project specifications can determine which specific style of set is right for you. So, as we get closer to the Holiday Season, grab a hot cocoa, sit down with pencil and paper and then you’ll know which choice is the right one for you.

Shellie Gardner
LED Christmas Lights

This morning I am catching up all of the email thank you’s with 10% discount codes from the Christmas Light Source recycling program.

Every day we are still receiving 4-6 large boxes of lights to be carted en masse to a local recycling facility that processes them in country in the most ecological way available.

It’s so good not to see these beauties end up in a landfill after dutifully providing hours of sparking light All the proceeds from the recycling program will be used to purchase books for the Toys for Tots program.

Occassionally, we receive boxes of completely unused lights that have never even been out of their packaging. These lights we take to a local thrift store that supports The Safe Haven Women’s Shelter. If you live in the Fort Worth area, consider dropping off your unused items there to support this worthy cause.

I hope everyone is enjoying their summer! Now is the time to light up the porch with clear mini lights and think ahead to red, white and blue for the patriotic Holidays as well as we honor our Veterans and Celebrate our Indepence!!!

Happy Summer Everyone!

Shellie Gardner
Christmas Light Source

Spring is in the air and that means Easter is right around the corner! I’ve just published a new article about decorating for Easter and incorporating a little sparke with Christmas Lights.

As spring approaches each year, we anticipate the warmer breezes wafting into open windows and the wonderful sights of spring green leaves and flowers appearing from the once frozen winter ground. The celebration of Easter seems to be the turning point for many of us when we think of spring finally arriving and gracing us with a much-needed respite from the cold, harsh winter months.

See the rest of our article on Decorating for Easter.

Shellie
Christmas Light Source

LED Christmas Lights have really burst onto the scene for Holiday decorating over the last few years. But you may be wondering, “what are those LED Christmas lights and where did they come from?”

Well, I’ve put together a brief history of LED Christmas lights. I’ve refrained from techno-jargon. I’m saving that for another article

Here is a sampling…..

LED Christmas lights are widely accepted now as one of the many choices of Christmas lights available to consumers. However, it was years ago that the concept of LED’s was actually discovered. Christmas lights are a recent application for LED’s. Light emitting diodes (LED’s) were first used for commercial applications. There really is a history behind LED’s and the effect they currently have (and have had in recent years) on the Christmas light industry.

See all of the article Brief History of LED Christmas Lights.

Shellie
C9 LED Christmas Lights